Miserable at best
by bee-black
Summary: It's the night of the Yule Ball and Harry is feeling miserable while looking at Hermione dancing with Krum. But what if she overheard something he said, and then did something he would never forget? Based on the song "Miserable at best", by Mayday Parade. AU Harmony all the way!


**A/N: Hi there! This is my first fic published here. I have written a lot of fanfiction over the years, but I lost nearly all of them, sadly. Anyway, I had this idea while listening to "Miserable at best" by Mayday Parade, it's a cute little depressing song and this fic is inspired by it. Go listen if you want to! I hope you enjoy this, and please excuse me if there is some misspelling, English is not my first language. I'm brazilian, by the way!**

_It was the night of the Yule Ball._

Ever since Harry found out that Hermione had a date - secret, yes, but still a date - he had been kicking himself for not having the courage to ask her as soon as he had found out about the dance. He had been developing feelings for her, kind of unconsciously, since they had been spending more and more time together after Ron refused to believe he hadn't entered the Triwizard Tournament on his own. They had developed a habit: wake up, have breakfast together, study, look for spells that could be useful in the competition, and maybe spend some time by the lake at the end of the day.

It was on one of these moments when they were hanging out by the lake that he realised something had changed. Never before he had appreciated how cute her bushy hair was, or how her eyes sparkled when she smiled at him, or how soft her skin looked when the sun was shining upon them. He suppressed those feelings when he and Ron went back to friendly terms after the first task; he knew the red head fancied her. But he couldn't stop wanting her to like him, to tell him that she wanted to go back to the way they were, although she never did. She smiled weakly whenever him and Ron were talking about Quidditch or the tournament, and she never asked to be alone with him again.

He should have known. He should have figured it out that she thought he preferred Ron over her, that by having his best mate back he wouldn't want the bookworm best friend with him 24/7 anymore. Sure, it was great having Ron around to talk about silly things, but after a while he realised it was just that, silly. Ron had shown his jealous nature again, and had hurt him and Hermione in the process. And then he went back acting like it never happened, but Harry had changed. He was just realising that when Ron opened his mouth to insult Hermione by saying she was a girl, after all, and could go to the ball with him, and then he heard she boiling with anger when she said she already had a date. He froze on the spot, and spent the next several days trying to figure out who _he_ was, how she would look on _his_ arms when they were dancing, and so on.

And that's how he ended up going with Parvati, after taking a deep breath and accepting that Hermione just didn't like him that way. When he saw her looking amazingly gorgeous with Viktor Krum by her side, he knew there was no way they would go back to how things once were. He danced with Parvati while glaring at Hermione, and then tried to be nice to his date so that she wouldn't think he was a jerk. But Parvati was Lavender's best friend, which meant she was always paying attention to everything happening around her.

"Harry... you like her, don't you?" she said, smiling sadly. He froze.

"Like who? I don't know what you are talking about, I don't like anybody, I was just looking over to the food table and-"

"Oh Harry, please. It's all over your face. You are in love with Hermione Granger." He sighed.

"Oh. I guess that you of all people would've figured it out pretty quickly, huh? I think so, yes. But look how happy she is. I can't do anything now..."

"Well, it's up to you, you know. But I wouldn't give up so fast, if I were you. Just saying." She winked at him, smiling, and he gave her a sad smile back. She just didn't know how things were with them.

"Do you think it's ok if I go dancing with that cute Beauxbatons boy? He's been eyeing me all night, and you are obviously taken with someone else, so..." She said, pointing to the guy in question.

"Oh, yes, why not? I think I need to take a break, anyway. Have fun, Parvati. And... thanks for the talk. I'm sorry I couldn't be a better date to you." He sighed, and squeezed her side a little.

"Oh, it's quite alright. I had a lovely evening so far, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, right?" She giggled, kissed him in the cheek, and went to find the boy, while he went to sit next to Ron.

He had an awful expression, like he just had eaten a poisoned sheperd's pie or something, and Harry thought that was odd.

"Hey, where's Padma? What's up with this face?"

"I don't know, and I don't care. It's... it's _her. _How could she do this to me? Errr, I mean, to you? Fraternizing with the enemy like that?" And he glared at the spot Hermione was dancing with Krum, smiling as he kissed her cheek. Harry frowned in confusion.

"What do you mean? She just came to the ball with Krum, it's not illegal..."

"WHAT? You are going to take her side over this? I mean, it's obvious he just came with her so he can make her tell all your plans for the tournament! Why else would he come with her?" He asked, with a tone Harry didn't appreciate. He was starting to become angry.

"Gee Ron, I don't know. Maybe it's because she's beautiful, and fun, and loyal, and scary smart? How about that?" He said, glaring at his best mate.

"Ha! Beautiful? Are you crazy, mate? That's HERMIONE over there. Sure, she looks kinda hot in that dress... Hey, do you reckon Krum just want to, you know, bang her? That would explain and -" He said no more, because Harry got up real quickly, and punched him so hard that he fell on the floor, bleeding, a shocked expression on his face. The entire hall had stopped to see what was going on, but Harry didn't care. He had to do something

Harry hissed in a very low, very angry tone. "Never, ever again talk about Hermione like that. You are no friend of mine or hers. You are despicable. How could you say something so awful about a person who has done nothing but help you all these years? If not for her, you would have failed some tests, and maybe you'd even be dead. Don't be so fucking ungrateful, ok? Now get out of my face."

Ron, still looking shocked, but now with anger mixed in his expression as well, got up and stormed out of the hall. Harry sighed, and looked at Hermione. She understood he would explain later, and he stormed out of the hall as well. He found a staircase where he could sit, and buried his face on his hand, gulping to control the sudden urge to cry.

"I bet he gets the nerve to walk the floor and ask my girl to dance... she'll say yes, of course, who wouldn't? She's all that I hoped I'd find in every single way. He's so lucky. It could've been me, if I wasn't so dumb! Why didn't I ask her right away when McGonagall told me I needed a date for the ball? Why?" Silent tears were running through his face now, but he didn't care. He had to let it out, and it was better to do it here where no one was looking. That way, he could make peace with the situation as soon as possible.

"Oh, damn. I doubt I will be able to sleep anytime soon, because I would just keep dreaming of you smiling when his lips touched your cheek... And I've got the point that I should leave you alone, but we both know that I'm not that strong, at least not right now. And I miss the lips that made me smile... Oh God, Hermione, what am I going to do? I guess that I can live without you, but without I'll be miserable at best!" He was crying, and didn't heard the gasp from behind him.

"Harry?" A soft voice spoke behind him, and he froze on the spot.

_"Oh shit. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!", he thought._

"Harry?" She tried again, but he didn't have the courage to turn around and face her, fearing that she had heard everything. "_Some Gryffindor_ _I am, huh?"_

"Harry, please... is that true?"

He finally turned around and saw her pleading eyes. He saw hope in them, but didn't understand. He didn't even understand what she was doing out here, when she could've been dancing with Krum.

"Hum.. Hi, Hermione. Er, kinda of. I mean, yes. Yes, okay? It's all true. Now please don't laugh at me, you can go back to Krum."

And then she hugged him so hard he suddenly couldn't breathe. He didn't understand, but wasn't going to complain, so he hugged her back and smiled a little, until she let go of him, her face with an unreadable expression.

"Oh, you silly boy!"

And then she kissed him.

**A/N: Ok, so that was it for chapter one! I don't know if I should make another one, and then an epilogue, or just skip to the epilogue. What do you guys think?**

**Thanks for reading! :)**


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